Latest Snowden Poll Results: 55% Say Whistleblower; 34% Say Traitor

Immediately in the aftermath of the Snowden revelations, various political action committees and their ideologically affiliated polling services took to convincing the general public that according to "popular opinion", a "majority" of Americans found Snowden to be a [traitor|hero]. A month later, with the the dust having settled somewhat, the US public has had some more time to consider the implications of living in the United Stasi States of America. And sure enough, another poll has just been released, this time by Quinnipiac. Its findings are as follows: a majority of U.S. registered voters consider Edward Snowden a whistle-blower, not a traitor, and a plurality says government anti-terrorism efforts have gone too far in restricting civil liberties, a poll released today shows. Fifty-five percent said Snowden was a whistle-blower in leaking details about top-secret U.S. programs that collect telephone and Internet data, in the survey from Hamden, Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University. Thirty-four percent said he’s a traitor.

The view of Snowden as a whistle-blower rather than traitor predominated among almost every group of respondents broken down by party, gender, income, education and age. Black voters were the lone exception, with 43 percent calling Snowden a traitor compared with 42 percent saying he was a whistle-blower.

The poll also showed that by 45 percent to 40 percent, respondents said the government goes too far in restricting civil liberties as part of the war on terrorism. That was a reversal from January 2010, when in a similar survey 63 percent said anti-terrorism activities didn’t go far enough to protect the U.S. from attacks, compared with 25 percent who disagreed.

“The massive swing in public opinion about civil liberties and governmental anti-terrorism efforts, and the public view that Edward Snowden is more whistle-blower than traitor, are the public reaction and apparent shock at the extent to which the government has gone in trying to prevent future terrorist incidents,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac’s polling institute.

“The verdict that Snowden is not a traitor goes against almost the unified view of the nation’s political establishment,” Brown said.

Facing espionage and other charges and with his passport revoked, Snowden has been holed up at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport since arriving there on June 23 from Hong Kong, which refused a U.S. extradition request. President Barack Obama’s administration has been pressuring other countries not to grant Snowden asylum, and U.S. officials who have called him a traitor include House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

The poll showed both Democrats and Republicans about evenly divided on whether government counter-terrorism measures have become excessive. Independent voters view the methods as having gone too far by 49 percent to 36 percent.

“The fact that there is little difference now along party lines about the overall anti-terrorism effort and civil liberties and about Snowden is in itself unusual in a country sharply divided along political lines about almost everything,” Brown said.

A gender gap emerges, though, on the government’s anti-terrorism programs. The poll showed that men, by 54 percent to 34 percent, see the government as having gone too far in its efforts while women, by 47 percent to 36 percent, said the measures haven’t gone far enough.

Despite this divergence, figures for the genders from Quinnipiac’s January 2010 poll exemplify the overall change in attitude on the issue. Male respondents, by 61 percent to 28 percent, said in the earlier survey that the government hadn’t gone far enough to protect the country. Among women, 64 percent said the same.

Likewise, among Republicans the percentage who said government has gone overboard in restricting civil liberties in the fight against terrorism grew to 41 percent in the new poll, compared with 17 percent three years ago.

Of course, this poll will promptly be overturned by another poll conducted by MSNBC (or comparable), finding that 120% of Americans believe Snowden deserves the chair. And the farce will go on.

give it time to play out. Ultimately the goal is to collapse American society... and turn the rest of the world against what remains of the U.S. and its people. The U.S. government was hijacked long ago... and the people essentially enslaved. when the time finally comes, the government, like the economy, will be collapsed... to hide the crimes of the past, and to ensure that the U.S. cannot stop the rise of a new power on the world stage.

When did 34% of Americans make time to have a lobotomy? I mean, between attending all those Obozo rallies or other NSA approved events where you can go full-retard; get a red, white and blue dick in the ass; and chant USA! USA! while imploring your surveillance overlords to tear up any of the remaining freedoms, it must make for a pretty full schedule.

Your hypothesis is based on the assumption that he placed a higher priority on his safety than on the public's need to know what "our" government is doing.

If you listened to his interviews it's clear that he's quite intelligent. More importantly, he had the courage to act on his convictions despite the consequences.

If I was a 29-year-old, I probably wouldn't be able to walk away from a $200K salary, a home in Hawaii, and a hot girlfriend (who probably brings home other strippers), especially because of the near certainty that the sheep don't care.

You are hopeful and overly optimistic. Have you seen how governments get, over and over and over and over again?

Yet this meme about a one world government persist. Truth is we can't organise a cat fight without that screwing up somehow. People do way better on a regional level than think in global terms. And it's not just the US government mind you, it's ALL of them. All of them feeding the same 'endless' pit of world resources, 70% of the worlds resources for 5% of the population. Of course it'll be shut down by a dozen different reasons.

There is no 'rise to power', this is the start of the unwinding, historically there are nice long lulls inbetween these collapses. People can catch their breath, re-prioritize and re-assess. Hopefully learn from the past and do better for the future. It's really all the human race has.

Pushing someone else's meme and agenda doesn't help any, you give it power by merely suggesting it as a possible future. Which is about as likely as me teaching my cat to play piano. Neither the time nor the resources exist to give the idea any look or energy. Only thing people should be doing now is learning as much as they possibly can while all of the knowledge is so easy to obtain (youtube, web, libraries, schools, tradespeople). Maybe for a new career, maybe for survival, doesn't matter what the reason is. The fact remains it is available now with nearly zero effort other than will.

So enough with the one world gov't crap. I just watched Calgary clean itself up in a week without any help from a government because it had it priorities straight. The Stampede was on and NOBODY in a country that's tundra is going to miss a summer party. Not in a million years. If they waited for provincial and federal help, it would be arriving right now, a day late and a dollar short. After the flood in Toronto, same thing. Elbow grease is fixing the problem, not a government. (or the insurance companies, worthless twats the bunch of them.)

I will watch this play out, albeit from a distance. I think that if they wanted american society collapsed they could do it tomorrow, and not nearly as messy. All they would have to do is adopt a balanced budget, and we would instantly realize the depression we are in. They would not risk what they have risked if this was a setup.

I can see how putting it out there would be of some benefit, as it would ratchet up the fear factor for us who speak negatively of the government. But the risks are many and not all known. What if this leads to a change in how the entire government is perceived?

The collapse is coming, and I just do not see how this will help those in power in any way.

I really don't care if this is a setup, as it has led many to say to me "I guess you aren't crazy."

the real powers are above national level. they have used and disposed of empires many times throughout history... most recently England. The want collapse, but timing is everything, the collapse will generate the inertia necessary to lure the masses into the next stage... deception in one tool (of many) that permits a tiny minority to rule from the shadows across many generations. the next move has been long planned, and is not hidden from anyone who cares to look... but, the disconnect comes when one must actually confront what they see and believe that it is actually happening.

fairly certain that they have the exact opposite of decentralization in mind. but, to get the masses in a position where they can no longer resist... has taken quite a bit of wickedness and trickery...

they will fail for reasons they cannot understand... but they will certainly try.

I don't think he's a fake and I haven't heard anyone give a good explanation for why they think he is. The only argument I can think of is that they knew this information was going to get out and they wanted people to get used to it, but there seem like a lot better ways to do that if that was their goal. Even if they later "show" that Snowden was a bad guy somehow (it's only a matter of time before they claim he was friends with Osama's 2nd in command or some such), I don't know how the undo the bad taste that a lot of people have in their mouths right now.

CIA funding cut... NSA funding increased. Turf war, of sorts. I guess I find it somewhat unlikely that this kid had the access he needed to get to the stuff he shared without some "help". Snowden himself could be totally legit... how he got to what he got may not be.

So Balls and Integrity are the first place a guy goes to hide from a Government who spies on it citizens without their knowledge to the two major countries guilty of this? Anyone who doesn't question that isn't looking at the plain truth... he had further information to give to China and Russia.... problem is, they probably already knew the information and laugh at him as he seeks asylum.

Dr. Tarpley has his interesting views upon this question, read it here

Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D. - June 18, 2013

"There is ample reason to believe that the case of Edward Joseph Snowden fits into this pattern. We are likely dealing here with a limited hangout operation, in which carefully selected and falsified documents and other materials are deliberately revealed by an insider who pretends to be a fugitive rebelling against the excesses of some oppressive or dangerous government agency."

So is Gordon Duff at Veterans Today, he has his following analysis here,

also available at Gordon Duff's collection of articles at Veterans Today.

Lets wait & see whether there's any new, substantial info that Snowden will divulge in days to come... some valuable information that is REALLY NEW and CRUCIAL for the world to know... beyond the trickling dramas with some particular media...a reminiscence of Assange's wikileaks thrillers :-D

It's going to hurt on the voting, but I agree. Webster Tarpley chronicled the hallmarks of a limited hang out operation and this seems to fit the bill perfectly.

Recall Snowden was quoted some time ago that traitors should be shot in the balls ( purportedly part of his cover story?). He originally signed up for military duty to go kill brownies hoo doggee murica fukk yeah... His story is so manufactured. Not to mention Greenwald ( as with wikilieaks ) not only ignores 9-11 truth, they mock it. The fact that this story is so polished, this guy worked his way into the NSA for the express reason of whistleblowing, and left his beautiful heart broken ballerina girlfriend in paradise to become a man of intrigue.. His interviews are articulate, principled ( I chose honk kong because of their history of freedom of speech defense WHAT THE FUCK?). I'm not going to mock people who consider him a hero but mark my words, jack shit is gonna come from this save some kabuki theater. Hell, you have european countries coming out to get mad about these revalations, then on cue, steady eddie leaks that the europeans are IN BED with the US. IT is hilarity.

As for why. My sense would be this - the end result will be that this normalizes surveillance to the citizenry in the end, and just creating muddy waters. Look at the measurable good wikileaks has done? Virtually nothing.

"That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are."

Not sure how exactly to phrase this so I don't get my door kicked in by the NeoStasi in the middle of the night... I'll simply say this government is effectively at war with the people for whom it is supposed to work. We've responded to all this shit with words for just about as long as we can without getting completely trampled into the ground, and the time when words get replaced by action seems to be approaching. The tyranny is now so in-your-face that it's impossible to ignore.

From the "Boston Strong" shelter-in-place martial law fiasco, to Hastings getting publicly wacked, to Snowden exposing the NSA assault on civil liberties, to Kokesh getting flash-banged by a group of DC goose-steppers... I just don't see how much longer this will last without something big happening.

I think that is going to be his ultimate disclosure.
He already verified Israel with the Computer virus thing. I remember a lot of Hedgers dissing him because he hadn't uttered the dreaded homelands involvement.
Well, now he has. It doesn't count as a disclosure, exactly.
Neither would 9/11, unless he has some harder goods.

kokesh is another obvious plant... worked in psychological operations for the military... trying to set up armed marches on washington... perfect set up to have the government crack down and the sheeple view libertarian types as insane.

Yes, every nail that stands out is a psyop. What a great ethical stance...

History and current action EXPLICITLY lay out what is coming. When one understands what is coming, and that it is DUTY to act, it can test one's patience, restraint, self-discipline as to what action to take and how to take it. Given that we are a wide spectrum of individuals - and not yet a 100% colletive hive - DUTY will drive various individuals to various activities. Some will be measured and wise, others will be loose cannon-like. I hope for the former, but you know the latter will happen (Kokesh, exhibit A).

This is not rocket science. Resistance will evolve and grow. The State WILL persecute patriots, their blood and ours will mix and the tree of Liberty will feed.

I should have thought that a nationally co-ordinated, peaceful show by large numbers right across America by people carrying their legal and UNloaded weapons would send a message. Especially if it focused on the single message of "Enough Is Enough" or some such.

He went to work for a group of murderous thugs and was surprised that it was an evil organization. He threw his life away for nothing. The number of people that didn't already know that even give a shit is almost 0. He had no impact.

From college students joining Skull & Bones, or getting interviewed (for a job) by the CIA coming right out of college (they are young, naive and flattered by the attention) to those who join the military without an understanding of the bigger picture.. Until they do.

Yeah, but did these kids never read "All Quiet on the Western Front" or 1984?

You are telling me they actually believed they were fighting to defend their country, not to expand empire? I think most recruits are thinking "I get to drive a tank/fly a drone and get paid to do it!" and no further. The education system (or the lack thereof) plays its part, as well.

In other news, the New United States National Worker's Party (NAZI) has 34% approval ratings, and Obama is recruiting former members of East Germany's STASI to help out wiith some minor 'public affairs issues'.

Obama is quoted as stating, "i really like their attitude, and their experience. The NSA is looking for a few good men, and these guys fill the bill!" Further, he noted that every new recruit will be issued a brand-new set of uniforms, complete with a Chinese-made American flag pin attached to the collar of their Brown Shirts. When pressed further, he stated, "Well, Since I am a brown man, I felt that it is my responsibility as president to pick the new uniforms. As a matter of fact, I have a new Executive Order, 16, um, 666, laying out the framework."

Remember how Roosevelt won his election? US will stay out of war in Europe. A few months of brainwashing by the "free" jewish press and Hollywood later, the sheeple had forgotten what he had promised them and were glad to go to war.

34% already is quite high. And the brainwashing just has begun.

In two years the sheeple will be convinced that Snowden was evil while the NSA does no harm.

As Napoleon was deceiving the neighboring farmers he was also tricking his own animals. The scapegoat was again Snowball. "Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball." In fact many of the claims begin to sound ridiculous to the objective mind. Of course, Squealer's mission is to keep everything subjective in the minds of the animals.

The problematic 'dynamic' that is in play here is SOCIETY... [not women]...

HUMANS have a "fight or flight" node embedded in their psyche... The male species, in general, sways more towards FIGHT, while the FEMALE [while not afraid to FIGHT], weighs the 'FLIGHT' variable as an option [aka: live to FIGHT another day]...

Frankly ~ there's a lot of wisdom in that...

[the expression of that dynamic gets completely lost sometimes in a 'Facist Government vs. People' type of war]...

Women care about having shit men buy them, and men go out and buy shit so women will give them a little every now and then.

MOSTLY, men AND women in the United States are now become docile, self-serving chattel, too self-involved on 'head-gaming' each other (and everyone else they have contact with) to give a rat's ass about what 'their perfect, non-erring, 'merkun guvment' is doing. All the crap about a 'psyche' having anything to do with reality is so mush nonsense...that whole 'fight or flight' horse excrement really has NOTHING to do with why 'women' prefer totalitarian police states (which, evidently, they seem to). It's like THIS:

Women have pussies, and prefer men (who have dicks) to do all the work. They lay back, and expect to be pleasured.

By the way, males AND females are from the SAME species, 'homo sapiens'. Keep your psychobabble factually correct, please. The stuff about a so-called 'dynamic' is only a conceptualized IDEA, not the classic definition of the adjective describing the uses of energy; and thus perverted and incorrect when describing thought processes which have no form of action involved (actually, the ignoring of this issue of surveillance is an active INACTION, a DENIAL, a WILLFUL DECISION to NOT TAKE ACTION.

It's like my engines. DYNAMIC is 'matter', so what is antimatter, 'ANTIDYNAMIC'?

WOMEN voted for Clinton, and WOMEN voted for Obama as well. Anything that makes them horny works for them, it seems (both have big dicks, reportedly, and women do ANYTHING for men with big dicks, including letting them be SPIED ON). Women WANT men to PAY ATTENTION to them, plain and simple, and if that means allowing unknown men to watch them as they shower, make phone calls, shop at the store, or do online banking, well, that's just fine with them. Haven't you ever watched a pretty, anonymous woman bend over in front of you, after she 'accidently' dropped something?

Watched the July 4th fireworks on a NJ beach. At their conclusion, chants of "USA, USA, USA" went up.. A military, conservative town with many still not seeing the forest for the trees, conservatives brainwashed for too many years by the neocon agenda, Fox News, etc.

The men here on ZH, for the most part, are different. Critical thinkers regardless of conservative/liberal base ideology.

You can love your country, chant "USA", and have those feelings and drivers live separate from your disapproval of what our country's political elites are currently doing.

You can love the armed forces, love the American mythos, and the ideas we were founded on, without endorsing the current government or two-party dichotomy. Go check out Dan Carlin sometime; he's a guy that gets this very well and lives it.

I know several Vietnam vets, a few Gulf War vets, and several active-duty soldiers. Most of them are as disgusted as we are with the crap that's going on. One guy, currently in Afghanistan, calls the entire operation there a sham.

You haven't been in the military by the sound of that. Where would they get a plane or a ride to the air field. They would have to actively rebel to do anything approaching actually boarding a plane and coming home.

I see a soldier (in a volunteer army) losing a limb no different than a machinist losing a finger... except that when the machinist loses a finger, I don't have to pay for it through increased taxes and, further, publicly jerk him off for the trouble... possibly going so far as to throw him a parade.

Your machinist doesn't have to worry about the equipment actively trying to kill him. He doesn't have lingering PTSD from his day at work and he isn't facing a crappy VA hospital or mental institution after he loses that arm.

Stop for a second and think -- really think -- about what you're saying. You're telling us that, in your view, these men and women are voluntarily entering warzones for the phat paycheck that is roughly half that of your average city sanitation worker. Oh, and they don't even get the GI Bill anymore.

There are no other drivers? None?

I'll grant you that some do find the (limited) career opportunities a draw; what I don't get is why you have a problem with that. Misuse of the military is something we can agree on. Misrepresentation of the average enlisted or low-ranking officer I won't.

What I am telling you is that I sincerely doubt they would do it if they were not paid. You can dispense with the other strawmen. Clearly, there are other drivers.

I'll challenge your notion that these other drivers (intrinsic motivations) of our soldiers are somehow noble or altruistic. You act like the feelings of self-worth, comradery, patriotism, accomplishment, discipline, and other matters are somehow more noble than being extrinsically motivated. The incentive and psychological benefit from money and from these intrinsic matters are hardly distinguishable... the simple observation would be, "different strokes for different folks." It's merely a question of personality type, not altruism.... for the latter requires an absence of self-interest, which can only be accomplished by humans sub-consciously (and without conscious thought)... and automatons aren't particularly commendable. [aside from the fact that, simply because one feels like he is doing good does not necessarily mean he is doing good; the road to hell is paved with good intentions].

As far as I'm concerned, the motivation for carrying water for the dollar:oil peg is irrelevant. But, I would be all for the military trying a new recruitment program (an experiment for our gentleman's bet)... one that is perfectly voluntary and that does not pay the soldiers anything... I'm guessing we'll be able to count the volunteers on one hand.

In the end, the fallacy is this, we are told that servicemen are doing everything for us, the american people, but the reality is quite different. You might be able to argue to the contrary (plausible deniability anyway) in the event there was no extrinsic benefit, however that fact pattern does not exist.

PS, if you're going to concede the issue of military "misuse," then you might as well pack your bags and go home... the debate is over... you cannot logically separate the soldier from the basis for war. In other words, if the war is unjust, then so too is the soldier.

The men (and, now, women) that sign up to protect and defend the Constitution Of The United States from ALL enemieis, foreign AND domestic, are to be honored and commended for their willingness to lay thier lives on the line for this ideal that we all cherish.

AT THE SAME TIME, the corruption that LEADS and FORCES these people to fight wars for the Banker-run Cartels is to be abhorred and vilified.

The KEY is educating the aforementioned IGNORANT (NOT a sin) patriots as to this critical disconnect, and supporting them in the overthrow of this Oligarchy from WITHIN; and re-instituting Constitutional Law.

Does this help explain your ignorant question, 'Herd Redirect'?

Aw, HELL, you NSA/CIA/TIA/OSS/FBI/(etcetera) people are SO EASY to spot, as you wage your psychotronic wars...

Why are you disappointed? It's to be expected. Plenty of so-called "limited government conservatives" absolutely worship the national security state and its role as world police.

Each team believes in a different flavor of big government, but arguing that there are huge differences between Republicans and Democrats is like arguing there's a huge difference between plain vanilla and French vanilla.

McMolotov I've been waiting for you to slip up. I mean really, French vanilla is so much more pompous than regular vanilla and smells worse. Also, if you eat regular vanilla and French vanilla at the same time the French vanilla will come out first because French vanilla runs away faster.

Conservative talk show hosts, with the possible exception of Savage, are there for the same reason liberal ones are.
To keep people in those red and blue lines. Unfortunatly Savage, however well intentioned, is a certifiable paranoid.

The worst are guys like Eric Erickson, who simultaneously decry government encroachment into civil liberties, then turn around and beat the drums over Israel, the Middle East, etc. The cognitive disconnect between understanding interconnected causalities is quite breathtaking.

All Iraqis and Afghans who launch attacks on US forces for invading their country for no rhyme or reason are terrorists. Similarly all Americans who expose the attempts of the political administration to curb human rights and privacy of the majority of the population are branded as traitors.

50% of all Americans are below average in intelligence - by definition. Nearly all Americans are "educated" by the state (public schools) and Hollywood/Madison Avenue. Stupid Americans are clearly an advantage to somebody.

Have they found any of those carbon nanotubes yet? The Chinese (oops, scrap dealers in the CONUS) are paying good money for clean carbon!

If you want to find the Iraqui WMD shells, you need to ask the Kurds (according to the MSM).

How 'bout all those 60,000 Lybian MANPADS that we 'gloriously liberated' in that 'Arab Spring' in Hitlery's garden of neat ideas?

it's 'all going to plan'.

EGYPT, well, not quite yet.

IRAN, well, this is the FOREGONE CONCLUSION, isn't it? THEY have had WMD's ever since GE built those two nuclear reactors for them, under the SHAH, back in the mid-70's...

As for RUMSFEILD, and the MISSING 2.3 TRILLION DOLLARS at the Pentagon on September 10, 2001, well, I just don't know. I think he was caught up in the shitstorm, and went along until he couldn't stomach it any longer.

QUESTION:

WHICH nation is the only one to ever use nuclear weapons on it's enemy in time of war?

A) North Korea

B) USSR

C) Iran

D) Grenada

E) Lybia

F) 'F' is for the FUCKERS that control the money supply in the 'CONUS'.